EDNOS
by meg596
Summary: Maddie is leaving and the consequences are catastrophic. Rated T for eating disorders *Contains Ruby*


Ruby didn't know what was happening to Maddie but she knew that it was something bad when she caught the girl with her bags packed at three o'clock in the morning. She had no idea what to say as her cousin stood at the door with her suitcase packed.  
"Maddie?" she asked. Maddie looked sad, Ruby looked confused  
"Go back to bed Ruby, I'll be up in a minuet" Ruby shook her head  
"I'm not tired Maddie, why do you have your suitcase?" Maddie glanced at her luggage and shrugged, nonchalant  
"It's just some stuff I'm getting rid of" Ruby raised her eyebrows  
"At three in the morning, come on Mads I may be twelve but I'm far from stupid, as soon as I go, you will too" Maddie grinned  
"Well Liv calls you straight A's for a reason" Ruby smiled. She took a step forward, beginning to see more of Maddie than before, it was clear by the tears on the girl's cheeks that she'd been crying. Her frame seemed skinner and she no longer looked healthy, she looked like she hadn't been eating and for once Ruby saw just how much she had refused to see in Maddie, that she wasn't just Liv's twin sister.  
"Why are you leaving? Is it because of me?" Ruby asked, she hoped the answer was no. Maddie looked at the twelve-year-old, really looked and she too realised that the girl hasn't been sleeping.  
"You should go back to sleep Ruby, can't have Sasha looking to tired, now can we?" Maddie hoped that would send the girl away but it only encouraged her. Ruby took another three steps forward, effectively pinning Maddie against the door.  
"Is. It?" she demanded, punctuating each word. Maddie gulped, sweat beginning to fall down her face.  
"Not just you, I can't stay here Ruby but it's not your fault" Ruby could tell it was, partially anyway.  
"Then whose is it?" she asked. Maddie's grip on her suitcase tightened.  
"Mine…" the two just stared at each other, the tension got thicker with each minuet and for the life of her Maddie wasn't sure why she hadn't left.

A cough erupted their moment  
"Mads, I thought you were leaving" Maddie turned to her younger brother  
"I was… she caught me" Ruby's head flittered between them both as she tried to determine what the hell was happening.  
"Digs in the car Maddie, we can't keep him waiting"  
"I know…"  
"You don't have to go" he said. Maddie smiled  
"You know what'll happen if I stay here" tears began rolling down her face as Joey waltzed to her and hugged her.  
"You need to go, everyone will be up soon, I'll cover for you"  
"What about Ruby?" if Ruby was offended by not even being acknowledged she didn't show it. Maddie glanced to the door and then back to Ruby, she gave the twelve-year-old a hug and then left, as if nothing had happened. Ruby just stared at her as Joey gently closed the door.  
"Go to bed Ruby" and then the third oldest Rooney Sibling left his cousin in the dust.

For the next few weeks Ruby watched the walls come tumbling down, Liv was too sad to act and Parker lost his ability to do anything except stare at a picture of his sister. Ruby watched her mother attempt to console her aunt, whom had been the only person Joey had told the truth to, and Joey, the cousin she found most amusing had left the day after and not returned. Ruby had tried to bury herself within Sasha because Sasha was safe but it was clear as day that Ruby was not okay. She knew she could have stopped Maddie but she didn't and she didn't know what to do. A month after Maddie left Liv quit sing it louder, they tried to find her replacement but it was no use, the show was cancelled. Three months after that Ruby was approached by various acting agencies but she turned them all down and instead worked hard and tried to get into acting school.

A year after Maddie left Ruby received a letter, skimming past the reasons that she left Maddie had gone on to say that she was yes, alive and that she knew Ruby had stopped acting. Maddie had then called her cousin an idiot and left a number to call to get another acting gig, Ruby called.

Two years after Maddie left Ruby was staring in her very own show called _dysfunctional_ about a young girl's outlandish family, Liv had watched every episode as had Maddie, well it seemed so with the letters she sent to Ruby.

Three years after Maddie had left Ruby was sat in her dorm room with her best friend, her best friend received a text and turned on the sports channel where Maddie stood, detailing her rise to fame. Ruby dropped the cup of tea she was drinking. She grabbed the phone and ran Liv who was yes, watching the interview. Ruby didn't know how to feel as Maddie began describing her battle with her eating disorder, a battle Ruby was one hundred percent sure that her family didn't even know she was facing.

 _"_ _You see Steve… I knew I was ill when my brother found me on the point of fainting because I had so little in my stomach" she told the reported. The reported looked at her sadly  
"Who else knew about your disorder?" at this she looked surprisingly sad  
"No one apart from my brother and my boyfriend"  
"How did you manage to keep it a secret, your family if fairly well know, your sister Liv and cousin Ruby are child actors, they have a pretty big spotlight" Maddie laughed.  
"Surprisingly it was because of that, I was really good friends with their publicist and I knew that they both had a lot of interviews and appearances. Ruby was young so it; not a surprise she didn't realise and by the time Liv got home she was so tired that she wouldn't have seen anything. My youngest brother was hardly ever home and my mum was so busy making sure that everyone else was okay it was easy. I don't blame them though, if they had known they would have gotten me help." The reported looked thoughtful  
"What caused you to develop this illness?" Maddie looked down  
"My entire life was about sports, which is why I am as successful as I am, I worked my butt off to get here but with this newfound fame came a lot nasty comments and I am in no way saying their comments are the reason I am but it didn't help. I was always in control and suddenly I wasn't and since I couldn't control others I controlled myself, at first it was harmless, eat a little less calories, don't snack between meals, things like that but it suddenly became dangerous. It became use laxatives and be sick after meals. I genuinely thought I was doing the right thing but I was dying, I know that now."  
"What made you realise that?"  
"When Joey found me passed out on the floor because I had, had nothing to eat all day. He kept saying to me that he couldn't lose me because he loved me and then later I heard Ruby and Liv speaking about me. Liv was saying that out of everything I was the one thing she was proudest of and Ruby was telling her that she would give up her acting career to get me on an NBA team."_

The interview stopped abruptly as Ruby fell onto the chair, she felt tears roll down her face as she cried. She picked up her phone and began to type, she typed an email onto Maddie's NBA website and hoped the girl would see it. She needed to see her cousin one more time, she needed to hug her.


End file.
